Door-closing device



N'ov. 4,1930. J, EATON 7 1,780,673

DOOR CLOSING DEVICE Filed Feb. 10, 1926 Inventor" John Eaton,

His Attorngg Patented Nov. 4, 1930 (uNITEo;.-s TA'rEs.

f PATENT ferries PANY, A oonroaarron or NEW'YORK noon-crosme DEVICE Application filed February 10, 1926i "Serial'No. 87,471,

My'invention relates to the moving of distant members, and more particularly to the closing of doors, gates orslides from a distance, as for example, the closing of the doors or gates of automatic elevators or dumb waiters in systems in which the car or box cannot be moved unless all or certain of the doors connected with the system are closed. It frequently happens in such systems that the floor door or the car gate will be left open by a careless or uninformed user to the con,- siderable annoyance of persons who are thereupon unable to bring the car or box to A the floor upon which they happen to belo- "be used for this purpose.

cated.

One object of my invention is to provide simple means for enabling a door or gate at one floor to be closed by a person on another floor or on any other floor.' Another object is to provide means for automatically delaying the closing of the door for a certain time after the action of the apparatus has been initiated at the distant station. An-

other object is to provide a signal at the door, which is effective as soon as the action of the closing system is initiated. Another object is to provide a system in which the closing of the doorcan readily be prevented by a person at the station where the open door is located in case this person has not finished with the car or box.

To attain these objects I provide of course means for closing the door or gate. A spring or weight in connection with a latching means for holding the door in open position may I also provide means for initiating the action of the door closing means operable from a distant station. Where a weight or spring is used for closing the door and a latch is used to hold "the door open, an electrically operated latch releasing means operated by an electric circuit leading from the distant stations may be used for this purpose. Various means may be employed to secure a delay in the closing of the door or gate, depending on the nature of the means which are usedto close the door. When the door is closed by a weight or spring and held open by a latch the latch releasing means may be one of many kIlOWIi d y action devices usually called i tlme elementdevices. The signal may, for

example,bea lamp or buzzer. It may be set I 1n operation by the closing of the circuit,

which initiates the action of the ,door closing or latch releasing means.

In the following description and annexed drawing, Idescribe'and show one embodiment of my invention applied to the door of one of the stations of a dumbv waiter. 'Referring to the drawing, 1 designates thev box of a dumb waiter and 2 a sliding door closing the opening to the dumb waiter shaft at one of the. floors. The weight'3 connected to the door 2 by the cord 3 returns the door to closed position whenthe door'is free to close. A bent lever 4 has a spring; arm 45* which is, provided at one. endwith' a latch 4',

adapted to engage aprojection 5 on the door.

A latch 6 engages the other arm ofthe lever 4: so that thelatch 4? is normally held inengagement with the projection 5 when the door is open and the door isthus held open notwithstanding the closing pull thereon of the weight 3.- The forward and rear: surfaces of the latch ll andproje'ctions 5 are sloped so that the projection 5 can lift the latch 4 and I pass thereunder when the. door is pushed open by hand and also when the latch 6 releases the lever A and the door isclosed by the weight 3.

While the latch 6 and its operating mechanism may obviously have any of many dif:

ferent forms, I prefer to use a bimetallic thermostatic member 6* as the arm of the latch 6. and toprovide a heating means such as the coil? surrounding or otherwisethers mally related to this arm. 7 A circuit 8, when,

closed,gradually heats the coil 7 and causes;

the bimetallic arm of; latch 6 to bendor curve until the lever leis released and 'the, door 2is thereby permitted to close 'infreQ sponse to th P 111 of'the weight 3. The circuitf8 canfbe closed when desired by a person at any of a number of distant stationsby means of switchesor buttons 9. a After the latch'fil has been released bythe heatingof the coil 7 andtheuprojection 5. has passed;- under the latch 4', the lever 4. immediately returns to its normal position and is again engaged by the latch 6 when the thermostatic bar 6 cools off and resumes its normal position. The device is thus automatically reset.

The signal '10, here shown as a lamp, is set by the closing of the circuit '8.

The heating coil 7 the bimetallic arm 6 of latch 6, or other means which may be used for holding and releasing the lever or latch 4, may be so proportionedas to delay the release of the latch for as long or as short a time after the closing of the circuit 8 and setting of the signal '10, as may be considered desirable. is to enable a person at the door to avoid being struck by-the door as it closes, and'to enable this person to block or hold the door so that it cannot be closed, if he so desires, as by holding down the latch 4 by hand.

lVhen the door is pushed open, the latch rides over the projection 5, the spring arm 4 yielding so as to permit this to be done without releasing the lever l from tile latch 6. The doormay be closed without releasing the lever 4 from the latch 6, this being accomplished by lifting the latch l by means of the thumb piece 4", the spring arm 4 bending to permit this to be done. The door may also be closedby forcing it until the projection 5 lifts the latch 4 While I have described only one embodiment of my invention, I do not Wish to be limited to the particular form shown and described as it will be apparent that many modifications therein may be made without departing from the scope of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In combination, a door, a signal adjacent the door, means for closing said door, a time element device for initiating the ac- 7 tion of said closing means, and means operable at a distance from said door to'set said signal and to initiate the action of said time element device. I

2. In combination, a door, means biasing said door to its closed position, a latch for holding said door in its open position, a signal at the door, a time element device for releasing said latch, and an electric circuit controllable at a distance from the door to set the signal and actuate the time element desaid door to its closed position, a latch for In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my handthis 8th day of February, 1926;

' JOHN EATON.

The purpose of this delay. 

